Swap Cards

I recently participated in a Swap with my Splitcoast friend from California.  Jamie always has excellent artists in her group and I love the cards I get from them, plus we only have to make 7-8 cards.  This time, I entered two categories - in one, we made a card from our Sneak Preview Hostess sets (Level 2 and 3) and the other round was based on use of the following colors: Real Red, Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Black, Chocolate, White, Vanilla, or Raspberry Tart DSP to make a Valentine card.

Here are the cards I received:

These cards use these sets (from top to bottom):  Always; Love You Much; Many Happy Returns & Fresh Cuts; and Wild About You.  Gives you some good ideas on using some stamps other than hearts for Valentines.

These cards use: A Happy Heart; Crazy for Cupcakes; Goody Goody Gumdrops; and Priceless & Itty Bitty Buds.  (I did the Cupcake one & the Priceless one.)  Just noticed the last one is upside down in the picture!  It says "Wonderful Friend", but you get the idea!

These cards use:  A Little Somethin'; Dream A Little; and Just Jawing.

These card use:  Echoes of Kindness & Always in my Thoughts; Rustic Rooster; and Hand Drawn Bundle.

Just Buzzin' By

I got this stamp set a couple of weeks ago and just haven't had time to use it.  Yesterday I got my copy of Paper Crafts Magazine and there were a few cards and an article in it about saying "YES" to yellow and gray.  Supposedly, these colors are straight from the runway and are "daring and sophisticated."  I don't know about that, but I knew I had the perfect stamp set for those colors.  What do you think?

I used my Prismacolor Pencils for the beehive with Gamsol.  I stamped the "hive sweet hive" in YoYo Yellow and cut it out & popped it on.  The bees are colored with YoYo Yellow.  On their wings, I used a Gelly Roll Glitter pen.  I used the Ticket Punch on the corners.  I used my watercolor pencil for the shadow under their feet.

Blog Candy Up for Grabs

My friend, Jackie, over at Just Stamp It is giving away blog candy!! If you want a chance to win it, check her out.

Monday Mailer that I sent out this week

 

I just realized I didn't share the Monday Mailer I mailed to Lynn this week.  This is one of my all time favorite stamp sets and I hope it never retires!!  It is Lovely As A Tree.  There is just so much you can do with this set.  I stamped the trees in black on the Big Note Sizzix die and backed it with another die in black.  I used my clouds template for the sky and made snow with Chunky Glitter.  It really sparkles.  I used Basic Gray paper for the card, layering Pacific Point Patterns Designer Paper (say that 3 times fast!) on the bottom.  I punched a double circle to tie the gray ribbon through.

Proud Peacock

I've been working on this card for a couple of days now & just couldn't get it right. Finally got it today though! I just love this peacock stamp. It is from last month's Stamp of the Month by Great Impressions. I love it because you can make it so colorful! It goes great with SU's Raspberry Tart designer paper, don't you think? I did the card for the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast this week. I used Radiant Pearls, Twinkling H2O's and stickers to make him shine and sparkle!!

Good for you snacks

When you are hungry and need to snack, here are some good snacks that are better than the "100 calorie packs"

¼ of an avocado
1¾ cups apple slices
1 medium banana
1 cup grapes
2 cups berries
1½ cups sliced peaches
1¼ cups orange sections
1¼ cups blueberries
2 cups diced watermelon
1 cup sliced pears
1¹/₃ cup diced pineapple
1½ cups raspberries
1 cup cherries
2 large kiwifruit
3 clementines
4 cups cherry tomatoes or 10 plum tomatoes or 3 large beefsteak tomatoes
1 medium baked sweet potato
1 small baked white potato
2 cups carrot strips or slices
12 cups torn lettuce
10 large broccoli spears
8 cups sliced cucumbers
5½ cups sliced bell or sweet peppers
5 cups whole raw mushrooms
32 spears cooked asparagus
2½ cups cooked green beans
80 snow or sugar snap pea pods
4½ cups mixed vegetable salad (without dressing)
½ cup cooked grain/rice/pasta (most, bulgur is ¾ cup)
1 jumbo hard-boiled egg
20 large boiled or steamed shrimp
2 oz chicken breast meat (a little more than 2 oz)
2 oz sirloin steak (a little less than 2 oz)
¾ cup plain fatfree yogurt
3 cups air-popped popcorn

Compared to:

less than an ounce of some kind of packaged cookie crispy thing

Tropical Smoothie

For a low cal snack, try these Tropical Smoothies

Serves 4

Recipe Ingredients
1 (15-0z) can pineapple tidbits in juice, undrained
2 bananas, sliced and chilled
1 cup vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt

Directions

Place opened can of pineapple tidbits in freezer 10 minutes.

Combine pineapple tidbits, banana, and frozen yogurt in a blender; process until smooth.

Nutritional Info Per Serving, 1 Cup
163 Cal, 0.4g Fat, 2.3g Fiber, 38.1g Carbs, 41mg Sodium, 3g Protein *3 points

~Cooking Light Superfast Suppers

My Monday Mailer this week

I got a great Monday Mailer card this week from my friend, Brenda.  She used Kraft cardstock which she tore and put it on Burgundy which is layered on Green.  The stamp set is "To You and Yours" which you will not find in the catalog.  BUT ... it is on the Dormant list which you can see HERE.  These sets can be ordered just like the ones in the catalog, but you just won't see them listed in the main catalog.  Some of the stamp sets listed on the Dormant list surprised me - like Inspired by Nature, Polka Dot background, Full of Life, and Bella Blossoms.

Wow! What a weekend

What a great weekend we had. We were able to enjoy seeing family members (well, just Sonny's cousin - about all he cares about seeing!); eating great Italian food (yummm Danny's hoagies) and hot dogs at the "O" by the Pitt campus; walking in the beautiful snow; and best of all, watching our Steelers win the game!!! We found a bar at Station Square on Saturday and decided to try it out on Sunday since it was huge and across the river from Heinz Field. We got there about 2 pm and there were a few tables and booths available and a few seats available at the bar. Remember, the Steeler game did not kick off until 6:30!!!! But, we wanted to see the earlier game between the Cardinals and Phillies (go Cards!) and we figured we had to get there early to get a seat in front of a TV!! We had great seats at the bar in front of 3 TV's so we were set! I would be lying to you if I said I was confident of a win .... I was just praying hard!! When Troy Palomalu intercepted the Ravens pass at the end of the game and scored, I burst into happy tears!! I knew we had it then and the place went wild - people standing on table, jumping around, texting their friends ... If you have never been to a place full of hundreds of rabid Steeler fans, you just can't imagine what it is like. This place was huge and you could barely walk through it without pushing people out of the way (trying to get to the bathroom was a real journey). Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of how it was.

Sonny & I .... going for the Six-Pack (6 Super Bowl rings)

Before the game .... in the snow at our hotel. They had already shoveled the sidewalks. Wouldn't you hate to do that every day??

Did You Know?

The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses.

Francis Scott Key was a young lawyer who wrote the poem "The Star Spangled Banner" after being inspired by watching the Americans fight off the British attack of Baltimore during the War of 1812. The poem became the words to the national anthem.

The Netherlands and the United States both have anthems that do not mention their countries' names.

Pilgrims ate popcorn at their first Thanksgiving dinner.

American Indians never actually ate turkey; killing such a timid bird was thought to indicate laziness.

~The Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society